A downloadable game for Windows

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What is it that defines the dreams that truly terrify us and then haunt us long after waking up? Is it a situation we cannot escape? Perhaps it is being surrounded by a place that is isolated and alienating? Could it be the feeling of being exposed to something or someone that seeks to inflict unimaginable torments on us?

One example that captures all of this is the place you will be taken to, should you choose to accept this challenge. As the player, you will take on the role of an unsuspecting commuter taking the subway; a commuter who gets side-tracked from their mundane activity and wanders into a part of the system that has been abandoned. However, this is no accident, this is a place to which you have been lured, the Geisterbahnhof, or ghost station.

Your task is to survive and escape, but in order to do so you will need to move carefully through the endless tunnels evading your pursuer and seeking out the items that you will depend upon for your escape. Even so, the items alone will not be enough, you will also need to employ your memory and all your concentration and of course you will need to keep your nerve.

Features:

  • Player is immersed in continuous atmospheric tension, interrupted by jump scares from a pursuer who can strike at any time.
  • The player must begin solving puzzles that utilize the subway’s dilapidated infrastructure to provide clues. They then must harness their memory to navigate their way to freedom.
  •  Re playable- the station maps are procedurally generated in a number of different styles varying the experience with each play

Are you ready to face your fears? Enter the abyss… if you dare.

Things to note:

This is a second version of the game and is being offered here first. Feel free to add any comments or suggestions, whether it is something you'd like to see more of or something new that could be added.

Game does contain some flashing effects.

Updated 3 days ago
StatusIn development
PlatformsWindows
Rating
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
(2 total ratings)
AuthorLapse In Time
GenreSurvival, Puzzle
TagsAtmospheric, Dark, Escape Game, First-Person, Horror, Liminal space, satire, Singleplayer, suspense
LinksSteam

Download

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

Geisterbahnhof.zip 379 MB

Development log

Comments

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I attempted to get through the Ghost Station!  I loved the part where  you are chased & have to find money at the same time as you'll see in my gameplay:

The puzzles were tough and the trip through the station was long.    Rumor has it that you'll still find my body in the gas filled laser hallway at this point.  Thanks for the unforgettable experience Lapse In Time!
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You got quite far. A lot of respect for your perseverance, you remained positive; you rose to the challenge!

check out my gameplay!

Thanks for playing Waredien; I appreciate the effort you put into that.

Murder clown chases me through abandoned subway | Geisterbahnhof (Ghost Station)

what an amazing game!! I really enjoyed this. The puzzles were fun, it was creepy, and just an overall good time!! Can’t wait to play more from you so thanks for an amazing game!!

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Thanks for your playthrough and for the great commentary. Really glad you enjoyed the game. Also congratulations, you are the only player to have made it to the end so far!

WHOOOO IS STANDING BEHIND ME?!?!?! 

LIKE 4 PART 2!!!

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Thanks for taking the time to play through and comment, liked your style and that video upload was a quick response; very impressed!  I won't deny it, that file puzzle is tough. If you did fancy another try, the clue is that it's based on the math puzzle game "The Towers of Hanoi". 

This game really has potential! Couldn't finish it because the chase with the coins was a bit too long for me, but nontheless good game! 

Thanks for the review. Well done for spotting the Towers of Hanoi concept

I feel somehow cozy in there...

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Thanks for the playthrough; like the M&M analogy.

Puzzle was too much for me but the game is nice i just coudnt finish it

Thanks for the playthrough, nice one!

You r very wellcom

Oh man it felt like it took forever, but I did it! 😬 I love the changes and new stuff you added! The puzzles were really hard for my monkey brain, and even though I failed a lot, I managed to escape! Awesome job! 

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Thanks for your perseverance; that's key to beating this game, you are the only one to have done it so far, so well done. Once again thanks for the playthrough and commentary, tense at times but always great fun to watch.

Thank you for the experience once again! Definitely just as hard as the first one, but for different reasons! Really enjoyed playing it updated! :D

I tried to beat the entire game, but after more than 1h 30m of playing I gave up. (in the rooms filled with gas) The game is cool and has huge potential, but it wore me down haha 

Thanks for playing, Saebithen.

I like the game but I think the puzzles in game feels super hard haha. Tnx for inviting me.
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Thanks for your playthrough Mark. If you want to try the file puzzle again, think about the famous puzzle game "Tower of Hanoi".

Alrighty, so I have a lot to talk about on this one. Most of I'll go into more detail on the video itself but write the resumed version here. Firstly, it would be great if the game would let you, from the menu, start back from the last checkpoint you reached, otherwise it gets kind of repetitive. If you don't want to do that, the option to at least skip the phone calls would be nice. Now, I absolutely loved the gas maze, that was extremely fun and I personally don't think it needs to be change at all. That being said (and much like what the post below mine said) there definitely needs to be a checkpoint in the schedule control room, cause messing up that puzzle and then having to redo the gas part is a bit too unforgiving. Last thing would be a suggestion for the enemy guy, I personally think leaning into the ''Uncanny Valley'' theme for that guy's design would work brilliantly with the vibes of an unending train station. I delve a bit further into that concept on the video itself. Overall, this is still super fun and I will be coming back to it yet again to try and beat it.

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 Thanks once again Yeena, for taking the time to play and review, I’m sorry that you didn’t get through The Lanes. To answer your question about the generation of the map, it is optimised to generate parts of the map as the player goes along, this is to avoid generating too much at once. The sections are selected randomly in part, but also according to which stage of the game the player is currently progressing through.

I have been thinking about how to make the pursuer appear more threatening and others have mentioned this as well so it is definitely on the todo list. The “Uncanny Valley” suggestion provides a good lead to follow up on for this, so that’s a real help, thanks. I will also look into checkpoints for The Lanes and into a “Continue” button for the menu.

The game overall was good, I liked the random generation of the maps although the kind of repeat a lot more in the lanes area, also the cameras the rotate in a 360 motion kind of snap back to a reset position rather then do a full animation, the first file puzzle I enjoyed although I couldn't finish the second puzzle because it sent me back to the gas maze upon failure (maybe leave a checkpoint in the control room or make the chance of the door spawning a bit higher, I won't pretend I know how random map generation works), maybe make chase in the station a bit more intense as well like a run mechanic or maybe he tries to slow you down with stuff. But even though I wasn't able to finish due to poor time management, the game was great, I will definitely play again if any major future updates are released. 

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So far, you are the player to have made it the furthest and so you are currently the leader! Thanks for taking the time to review, I really loved the commentary and have made some notes on your feedback.

Starting to think I maybe have some skill issues hahaha, though to be fair, I also had limited time to record today and it took me way too long to do that file puzzle (not because of the puzzle itself, but because I'd woken up like 20 minutes before recording). Still, this was pretty fun and I really like all the new additions. I think it might be missing something when the dude is chasing you but I don't know what that would be, I just remember it feeling more threatening before (maybe cause he had a knife?). Really happy you're still developing this game though, keep up the good work! 

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You actually managed to beat quite a lot the game there. You did well with file puzzle, it's not easy, and the key too! Glad to hear you're thinking of having another go. Thanks for this second commentary; I've really been looking forward to seeing this. Will take on board what you said about the pursuer and how to make them more threatening.

 You have a very good game here, it just needs tuned and refined. Definitely looking forward to what you do with it going forward. Minus a couple of things I pointed out ways to improve, great work so far!

(2 edits) (+1)

Sorry you didn't defeat the game. I'll certainly think about what to do to make the pursuer look more threatening. To address the other comments I think I will introduce an easier difficulty setting and keep this one as the highest difficulty. Thanks for your review and for all the advice, much appreciated.

I would like to start that I enjoyed the game and the gameplay itself isn't bad, but there are some things that could be improved. I also wasn't aware of the update patch so some of my critiques may have already been addressed. I already gave my thoughts at the end of the video but I will also address them here as well.

I personally feel like the chance to find a working ticket machine was a bit too low and took too long to actually find. I liked the coin searching but the amount made it too tedious to keep going around. Maybe making it collect 0.25 cents at a time instead of 0.10 every time would make it feel less of a chore. I also had a problem with the monster spawning in right where I needed to go at the end and I got pretty annoyed with that.

I did really like the random generation of the station and the game overall. I wouldn't have finished it if I didn't actually like the game so I hope you keep making games!

Thanks for your feedback Lil Boi Ben. With the feedback I have to which I will be adding yours, I'm currently working on a new version of the game where I am aiming to give it a lot more structure so that searches don’t go on indefinitely. I’m also working on ways to remove the other more punishing aspects of the game. Well done for completing the game; thanks for your persistence.

Deleted 71 days ago

Man this map is huge!

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Thanks for your review. Enjoyed the commentary. 

Not bad a t all, for the correct player. It'll give you a challenge, and a creepy guy running after you. Good work =)

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Thanks for all your work reviewing this, you make some very good points at the end; I shall be taking note of them going forward.

Je me suis régalé sur ce jeu : très flippant, mais pas évident!

creepy

Thanks for your playthrough footage.

I got to play this game, per creator recommendation, and this game definitely has potential to be VERY creepy and intense. However, there are several things I mention in the video that hinder this game and could help improve the next one! 

Thanks for taking the time to review Cpt Zeus; I plan to make further updates to improve this game and so will keep what you have said in mind going forward.

Sounds good. Apologies if my review at the end came off as rude but I can't wait to see what you come up with next. Lots of potential here!

A nice alternative to the backrooms style games have been using lately. The atmosphere is great and the sound quality is also great. You updated the game while I was recording, so I assume it's still being worked on. The pursuer was creepy at first but it wears off the creep factor fairly quick. The glass shattering noise can be startling and he still got me if I was rounding a corner or about to go down some stairs and he was coming up. My biggest things are that locating the departure board can take a while as it only spawns in one room type with that room type seemingly being less common when it comes to that objective, but I don't know if that's really the case or I was just getting unlucky. The other is that it's really easy to escape the pursuer provided you don't hide in a locker (in which case he may never leave the area) or you run into a dead end. Hopefully we continue to see development on this game just to see your ideas finalized in general!
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Thanks for your review, your feedback has been noted down - I will certainly look into that crouch function. I like the way you took time to look at all the screens, the graffiti and adverts and tested out the lockers. You review was very thorough and professional - very much appreciated. Will reconsider the pursuit music. The game was developed in the Unreal Engine 5.

My main aim now is to keep it challenging but remove the frustration. Keep an eye on the dev logs for more updates.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention those in the comment itself. Those graffiti arts and posters are great. Some are just ominous looking and add to the atmosphere but some are just funny to me and I love it all. Glad to hear the review overall was helpful. I'll keep an eye out.

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I played your game as part of my 3 scary games series. Your game was the 3rd one. I think it was pretty cool how the AI changes the maps and the killer was super scary since you can hear when he is nearby. Atmosphere was unsettling but It took so long to locate a working machine and then I only was getting 0.10 cents out of the trash bins. I was not able to beat it after 1 hour of playing. The killer got me twice D: I know we need to memorize the maps but it would be helpful to have a transit map to mark the machine once we locate it since the maps change with each death. 

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Loved the review, thanks for taking the time to make the video and play through the game. Your comments were much appreciated and will help me going forward with the game.

This game grew on me, I'm so dumb after an hour of playing I couldn't beat it!

Thanks for the review PillowyChain92, will look to keep growing the game based on this feedback.

I loved it, really nice and scary game, great job!
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Je te remercie pour ton video. Mon français n'est pas courrent, mais j'ai réussi à suivre le plupart de ton commentaire. Tu a raison, le jeu a commencé comme un jeu Backrooms; il est aussi inspiree par Outlast.

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Really enjoyed the game! It's like a huge maze that kept changing and confusing me! I managed to beat it after a few hours though! It's definitely  a bit hard with the placement of the bad guy since he pops up when you least expect it, but it's very manageable! Having to start over again from the beginning when you die is a bit maddening, but I think it adds to the difficulty of the game! Awesome job!

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Good playthrough Rashemon, so glad your persistence payed in the end. Will consider ways of making the game fairer such as changing the departure screen and spawn locations.

Thank you! I really did enjoy playing the game! 

I think those things add to the difficulty, but if you feel like change is necessary you are the creator! 

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The randomness of the station is pretty fun to traverse but I will say that at its current state, it is just a tad too unforgiving. My main complaint is with the position of where the enemy spawns, cause it totally spawned directly in front of me several times and also, it seems to completely ignore the concept of hiding in a locker (cause it just stays there waiting, so there's no point in hiding). The signs to find the station aren't that hard to follow, the main issue I had was with how frustratingly disruptive the enemy was.  So I think some AI tweaks would make this actually challenging rather than a bit frustrating. It's very fun though despite the annoying enemy, might come back to this in a future update cause I feel like I got very close to beating it.

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Thanks for playing Yeena and thanks for your feedback comments I thought they were very fair and helpful -  need to be more selective as to where the pursuer swans and sort out that motion blur. Have taken notes on your other comments as well .

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I enjoyed this game, its a simple gameplay loop that keeps you hooked. It's just a shame I didn't finish it because I got lost and confused at the end 😅 If it gets updated to make getting the train (at what I assume is the end of the game) a wee bit more user friendly I'll definitely replay it and try again. Keep up the good work 👏 

Thanks for your feedback DP. I will give your point on the platform directions some thought going forward. It can become too easy for the player to lose their way in this place.

Managed to beat it! It's quite a long video, so I hope I'll be able to upload it by later today ! 

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Glad to hear you beat it! Look forward to seeing the playthrough.